Food from animals is safe

Swiss zoonosis report 2003

Meat and foods made from animal products also proved to be extremely safe in 2003. This is reported by the Federal Veterinary Office (BVET) in the "Swiss Zoonosis Report 2003". Zoonoses are animal diseases that can also affect humans.

As in previous years, the most common zoonosis in humans was Campylobacter disease, sometimes with severe diarrhoea. A total of 5692 people fell ill in 2003; slightly fewer than in 2002 (6740 cases). The most important risk factors are traveling abroad and the consumption of insufficiently heated poultry meat. In live poultry, the occurrence of Campylobacter decreased significantly by around a third compared to the previous year.

Zoonoses are on the decline in Switzerland...

Salmonella diseases in humans have been on the decline for the past ten years, since government control of the pathogen in chickens. In 2003, 2233 people fell ill, i.e. around 30 per 100.000 inhabitants. In the previous year, the rate was 34 per 100.000.
These successes are based on the monitoring and control of zoonoses along the entire production chain - from the stable to the fork. An evaluation of the surveillance programs in Switzerland is now available for the first time. According to this, the intensity of the monitoring in the individual processing stages is appropriate to the actual risk situation.

...but on the rise worldwide

Many zoonoses were eradicated from the Swiss animal population years ago at great expense. These include rabies, anthrax and brucellosis. Others, such as the fox tapeworm or listeria, affect humans very rarely. On the other hand, zoonoses seem to be on the rise worldwide, as shown by outbreaks of avian influenza in Asia, SARS and West Nile fever.

The zoonoses situation in humans and animals in Switzerland is summarized annually in the Swiss Zoonoses Report. The report is written by the FVO working group on zoonoses in cooperation with the Federal Office of Public Health, the Institute for Viral Diseases and Immune Prophylaxis and the Universities of Zurich and Bern. The zoonoses working group coordinates the monitoring of zoonoses in Switzerland.

Swiss Zoonosis Report 2003 on the Internet:

www.bvet.admin.ch/info-service/d/publikationen/magazin/1_index.html

Source: Bern [ bvet ]